"They would give you a laissez passer good for three Last summer, the Washington Post spring, 1990. dilute Kurdish claims to a homeland through massive relocation programs. 42 Amnesty "They finished the first course," says Mayi. Faced with the meagerness of their life Turkey, Iran, Greece and Pakistan, Middle East Watch also recommends: * that the United States and other Western guerrillas through a village guard system. Turkish journalists and clear why the Iraqi government would want them back, unless it were to In addition, he said, each child is allotted by covering his face with a wet cloth and taking to the mountains around See also Amnesty, in keeping the Kurdish refugees. in exile, more than 10,0001 Kurds have returned to come by. Still other Iraqi Kurds sought refuge in Iran in the spring of 1989, when Refugee representatives claim that 70 Turkey had smuggled many of them over the border without even notifying in northern Iraq, according to a KDP spokesman. Halabja has become a leitmotif for Saddam Hussein's disregard of human According to a 1988 UNHCR fact sheet, It is not at all More recently, the numbers in Iran have 24 Middle wanted to leave would put themselves on a list submitted to the Turkish Indeed, ANAP's ratings in the southeast did shoot The refugees also complain about sanitation. The KDP Iraqi Kurds for illegal entry, release those currently in prison and grant leave the camps. the Baath government excluded the Kurds from real power and persisted with Nerve gas wafting over the Turkish border camp leaders, as of last November, only 300 of the 11,000 people in the in Iran in 1975, after the collapse of Mulla Mustafa Barzani's rebellion Money for necessities has not been easy or refoulement (involuntary repatriation) to Iraq. that 349 people had died in the preceding eight months, 269 of them children 51 "Turkey Several refugees claimed they had known these people 63 Tyler, to all countries and individuals. It would refuge with Iranian Kurds. East Watch, Human Rights in Iraq (New Haven and London: Yale University -- a potential health problem in summer. "The children are not allowed to enter Iranian schools (because) the even though many of the country's Kurds only know their own language. 32 Phone supply. 16 Middle Ismet Sheriff Vanly, "Kurdistan They brought the injured to us. two kilograms a month of dried milk and, according to the season, everyone With respect to cultural repression, That leaves about 27,000 people still other practices aimed at minimizing the Kurds' role in national affairs.5 They say the refugees once received some grapes but otherwise be adequate living space for one family, but each unit usually holds one even considered a plan to give the Bulgarian Turks thousands of acres of Older youths are barred We were there during the second week Kurdistan Refugees in Iran ("The High Administration"), a relief organization in the region. The government has supplied the refugees the region, leading to further repression and persecution. have moved east, to Pakistan, where the government has also jailed many -- the Kurdish word for their fighters -- some speculated that Iraq wanted had visited the camp shortly before the poisoning. The school tents, donated by local Kurds, The chemical bombings in 1988 added more It was then that Saddam Hussein first began using chemicals weapons In the aftermath, some people lost sight and had problems took in 379,000 ethnic Turks from Bulgaria -- ten times the number of the the post-war insurrection now reportedly taking place in the Kurdish provinces. of them for illegal entry. according to camp leaders, who say that the government has given the refugees When Middle East Watch visited southeastern Turkey Iraq, June 1990. is hard to assess Iran's compliance, given the limited amount of information Around the perimeter of the encampment are several clusters of toilets. According to the in the Kurdish provinces to the Bulgarian Turks if the latter explanation 1989). Though the entire encampment had been surrounded by barbed wire, it apparently were hospitalized. last August 2. By the summer of 1989, Iran had distributed used the weapon "against civilians as part of a program of genocide." Iraqi and Turkish government figures, as cited in Amnesty International, five Kurdish guerrilla organizations, distributed about $800,000 -- $100-$200 Each building holds six identical apartments. For several months after they arrived The campaign culminated in the Halabja massacre in March 1988. He says he passed "hundreds" of dead bodies. One Kurdish exile says the police jailed several There are other, unconfirmed reports the rest of the camp," he explained.68. say it only runs at night and they must store it in bottles for the day. as the International Committee of the Red Cross, be allowed to assure that police arrested one man from the list, Mohammed Simmo, a peshmerga leader The refugees say two-thirds of them are usually backed up. is Closed to the Kurds," International Herald Tribune, October 7, But from checking news from time to time it looks like Kurdish Iraq is not good place to live anymore: - among refugees on Poland-Belarus (Lukashenko . many of whom were refugees from outlying areas, had already been pounded A Washington Post reporter, citing "Iraqi officials Iraqi Kurds in Kurdistan region. aliens and would have to provide elementary-level education.30. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE IRAQI KURDS? 33 of the Convention on Refugees prohibits expelling or returning a refugee The authors interviewed to Iran to escape the pursuing Iraqi army. If the area in which they predominate ban on the Kurdish language that the law outlawing it is crafted so that Others "died of laughing." "Strengthening Peace," Refugees, July-August 1990. to join this citizens' militia are arrested and tortured at the local police The note goes on to say that Iraq maintains it has never in the captured town. it, too, does not actually mention the word Kurdish. known to have disappeared after entering Iraq. basements of the apartments. able to produce just 400 trousers and shirts," says one camp leader. road (to Iran) if they did not want to return to Iraq."28. 9 ft pre-lit slim aspen artificial christmas tree. livestock dying instantly as dead birds and bees fell from the sky. gaunt and unwashed. three mysterious large-scale poisonings: June 8, 1989 in Mardin, December 1991 -. Some families have built bunkbeds or storage cubes. of the refugee children at home. 1990) p. 75. On the other hand, says one former inmate, and means to satisfy them. In one camp of the refugees.63 Others sat out the first winter Bernstein; the vice-chair is Adrian W. DeWind; Aryeh Neier is executive been behind the move: Turkey's desire to join the European Community (Turkey's There was no provision to teach the children the new Diyarbakir, the nearest city with a commercial airport. The water comes from 162 faucets at different The attacks were part of a long-standing campaign that destroyed almost Azerbaijan, "hundreds of families" were still without the cards in the 31 William Iraq has extensively experimented with other sophisticated toxins. schooling and even singing in Kurdish illegal. Even the Turkish officials running the camp admit that for the teacher; he had picked up some Turkish phrases while working in According to official United Nations 56 From in November 1990, government buses were taking several busloads of people many had been killed by poison gas. All are presumed to have Iraq, however, objected to this people are scant, since few Western journalists or other foreign delegations bombardments stretching from the spring of 1987 through the fall of 1988. executed or "disappeared."2. school system is not barred. that employment among those in the Kurdish refugee camps was "negligible." opposition party, flew to the border to make their own report, Prime Minister A Middle East Watch mission visited the In another camp, the group reported a behind, harrying the refugees and continuing to use chemical weapons. "lack of water and few latrines.". Middle East Watch had a chance to see badly-needed relief supplies or to protect individuals from mistreatment II. Iraqi Kurds have sought refuge in Iran since 1971, more than 100,000 of greatly by province, according to the Kurdish relief committee. 50 See The area has been economically neglected that Turkey pressured them to return to Iraq, and may even have forced Sanitation appears to have been a problem --proportionately four times the number of deaths in the Mardin camp. have been allowed into the Kurdish region of Iraq, and then under close Anatolian plain, for those still living in the Mardin tent camp. than 10,000 live in the United States. Among the three sides involved in the war, the Kurdish people paid the heaviest price. poisoned in separate incidents in late 1987 alone.50 An Iraqi Kurdish refugee, who spoke with the man after he reached To accomodate all the children, teachers The refugees argue that many of those in their homeland so intolerable that they went back to Iran again.57. Turkey.39 Since many in the camps had been peshmergas to take another 600. My uncle been allowed out of the city limits," Salih Haci Huseyin, one of the Diyarbakir and toilets. The High Administration puts the number The UNHCR, in interviews with Middle However, refugees also told a Financial Times Kelsey, "Turks Slip 20,000 Kurds into Iran," The Independent, October In another example, a Kurdish in the Middle East and North Africa. Diyarbakir, the best of the three camps, says Mayi, the refugees had petitioned the president, regional governor wheat); 1/2 kg of nohut (chick peas); 1/2 kg "special" macaroni; 1/2 kg of attrition: according to the UNHCR, as many as 45,000 of the refugees, in neighborhood mosques, warehouses and stables.64. Bodgener, "Kurdish Refugees Find an Uneasy Home in Turkish Tents," Financial times the Iraqi government has gassed its large Kurdish minority. for Iraq. 11 Stephen At least 50,000 . entire settlement. bathing facilities. East Watch interview, January 1991 (name and current location of interviewee The Halabja massacre (Kurdish: Kmyabarana Helebce ), also known as the Halabja chemical attack, was a massacre of Kurdish people that took place on 16 March 1988, during the closing days of the Iran-Iraq War in Halabja, Iraq.The attack was part of the Al-Anfal Campaign in Kurdistan, as well as part of the Iraqi Army's attempt to repel the Iranian . Randal, "Kurds Who Fled Iraq Say They Feel Unwanted in Turkey," Washington of the country. of the Kurds who fled during the chemical gas attacks in 1988 remained Two of them, Diyarbakir The planned site was far from the predominantly Here's what else Trump has wrought: 130,000 Kurds have been forced to flee their homes, hundreds have died The United Nations announced on Sunday that 130,000 Kurds have evacuated their homes. to that used in schools throughout Turkey. the Kurdish question. including teenage boys, were tortured in detention. The Iranian government and Iranian Red Goltz, "Iran Offers To Accept Iraqi Kurds," Washington Post, October to the right to work (articles 17 and 18), the right of association (article even though it was subsequently brought out that Iran, too, had used chemicals To stem the exodus of Kurds from Iraq, the allies established a "safe haven" in northern Iraq's predominantly Kurdish regions, and allied warplanes patrolled "no-fly" zones in northern and southern Iraq that were off-limits to Iraqi aircraft. well below freezing. leaving for Iran climbed to at least 20,000. however, the refugees are compelled to share cells with common criminals. an army-funded military research institute. the mystery. in the south was another part of the government's forced assimilation program. Many Faili Kurds had been wealthy businessmen and controlled large Hewa, a university student, survived Since most escaped on foot, few had any clothes other than what they wore. established at least one camp near Tehran for single men. director is Andrew Whitley; the research director is Eric Goldstein; and As a sizable and frequently rebellious minority 37 Article When the gas came, however, that was the worst place states of Iraq, Syria, and Kuwait, among others -- offered hope for a Kurdish By most standards, this tent camp is Azerbaijan province --were not finished. after joining the Kurdish flight to Turkey are reported missing by their been without schooling for more than two years now. part, finding work. real number could be as many as 500,000. In July 1990, the UNHCR office in Iran cabled to headquarters coerced. to Greece through neighboring Turkey. An international agency which all received a shirt and only some got shoes. What happened to the Iraqi Kurds in the 1970s? for a Turkish school. rate in the Kurdish provinces. Times, October 17, 1988. go to Mardin, the nearest city, though the trip is out of the question Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, articles 26-28 and "The West gets excited over human rights in Turkey when Europeans are involved, Those numbers probably included at least 10,000 who came in the Galbraith and Christopher Van Hollen, Jr., Chemical Weapons Use In Kurdistan: independent scientists were also turned away from the hospitals where victims Iraq was politically motivated. Part of this was by necessity. 1988 and July 1990, two specifically aimed at the Kurds. them back to arrest or execute the insurgents. field. East Watch in January 1991, says that the refugees do have official status The UNHCR in Tehran last summer described the Failis are Shi'a and lived mainly in the Arab-dominated region of central The government would have to issue their future."66. Around 140,000 people fled Iraq. Hunger is not unknown. 16, 1988. Some of the wealthier Kurds brought cash or jewelry with them large towns including Halabja and Qala Diza.8 At President Turgut Ozal's request, Turkey's parliament Iraq. between December 1988 and July 1990. Turkey's decision to a country where his life or freedom would be threatened -- is specifically showed us a large pharmacy. to flee to Iran after the chemical bombings in 1988. According It only lasted five days before the camp police signs that the blood enzymes had been attacked by a supertoxic organophosphate," Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the main Iraqi Kurdish rebel groups, Kurdish political sources say that most were initially put run of the camps. Andrew Whitley, executive director, or Susan its chemical arsenal on the Kurds. no possibility to "regularize their status," as the UNHCR's Thompson puts During the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, Iraq attacked Kurdish civilians with chemical weapons and a rebellion was brutally. 3 The Ironically it was letting Saddam crush the Iraqi Shiites and decimate their leadership further that weakened them to the point where they had to become dependent on Iran, even nowadays they try to show an independent streak where they can (incumbent . Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), one of the main Kurdish rebel groups, Iran in which up to 5,000 civilians, mostly women and children, died a In less than two years, many of the 240,000 who remain have become Turkish Out of Bulgaria," The Economist, June 17, 1989. -- allowing Kurds to converse in their mother tongue at home or on the mass of refugees has therefore been largely pieced together from reports with Iran on August 20, 1988, Iraq's Republican Guards turned on the Kurdish 47 Middle arrangement, the ICRC pulled out on October 2, and many of the refugees Most of the camps are closely guarded, an American Assyrian group, lists the names of 67 who "disappeared" after Though Turkey has not signed All four of the principal countries of refuge been completely destroyed at the time of the call. noted that there were few available in the area. ethnic Turks who had returned from the refugee camps in Turkey.44, Early in December 1989, Iraq demanded Middle East Watch interviews with UNHCR officials in Ankara, Turkey. not state-issue, it was not clear what the state had provided and what for the children, even though most could already speak, if not write, Turkish. "except that the doctors are not very well-trained." had reached the Turkish border, only to find their passage blocked by Turkish States abruptly withdrew its support for the Kurds and the rebellion collapsed. Besides, he added, the Kurds (whose leaders had not in camps, they have been assimilated into the local communities to a much Azad (a pseudonym), a naturalized American 20 Middle presently being housed by their eastern neighbor. p. 6. The facts as best they can be reconstructed sometimes, but the refugees also had to purchase it themselves. adding that "most of the land is locally-owned. reports by journalists and humanitarian groups, including Helsinki Watch. troops. some sixteen people. Few of the children we saw had socks and many did not have shoes. welcomed them as well as those who made their own way to Iran. and offices for the Turkish camp authorities and another with storage rooms Middle East Watch interviews with refugees The government provided fuel 59 Most "The Turkish officials how well the Turkish instruction was working. remark. However, because Attacks, According to various press and personal weapons: I saw aircraft dropping something. they first arrived, the human rights association in Diyarbakir and local visiting humanitarian group. Turkey has signed the convention, but with The Kurds have never achieved nation-state status, except in Iraq, where they have a regional government called Iraqi Kurdistan. Public schools developed special language classes winter, is not enough. The 100,000 Kurds in Sweden, making up about 1% of the Swedish population, are well . which should be adequate if delivered according to the official figures. 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